Looking for a beach holiday with a bit of something else

[OdysseyGirl]

Hi all, we want to go abroad this summer but we've done it before and whilst we are great at relaxing at the beach or being round the pool we want to go for 10 days and know the kids (5&6) will get bored. So we're looking for a beach holiday with a little bit of activity built in. We originally looked at Morzine or an Alps holiday but they look a little too active for us and we decided we do like the beach! Any suggestions for a beach resort where there are plenty of other things around to do for kids who have the attention span of gnats! Happy to hire a car and no more than 4 hours away by plane.

we went to the south of france a couple of years ago. lots of lovely beaches but other stuff too - we went to the village of fools, port grimaud and hired a little boat, marineland, lots of little towns etc

How about somewhere like Cascais near Lisbon, Portugal?
Partly depends what 'activities' you are looking for I guess?
(Not been there with kids, and it was too hot for me but might be what you are looking for?)

We used to do Brittany, less hot, easy to get to.

Greek islands are lovely for entertaining yourselves. Meganissi is fab, you can hire a little car and discover the island. You can also hire little self drive boats and pootle about to your hearts content.
There are loads of lovely hidden coves and beaches with tavernas for the adults and amazing snorkelling for the kids.

Croatia? We mixed some pool/beach with some sightseeing. We hired a car and popped into Bosnia and Montenegro.
Croatia has islands, boat trips etc.

Barcelona? City with beach on hand. Science centre and loads of parks fir the kids as well as usual museums etc and the football stadium may be a winner for a visit.

Croatia has very few sandy beaches, but does have nice clear water for swimming and snorkelling. If you can get reasonable flights to Split you could combine a city break (beautiful pedestrian only walled Old Town built around the remains of a Roman Palace) with day trips by catamaran/ferry to one of the islands, Krka or Plitvice Lakes/ waterfalls, Mostar, or to Omis, which has lots of activities like canyoning, kayaking, zip line etc.

Corsica! You can get from beach to mountain railway in an (admittedly nervewracking) hour's drive. Plus, the patisseries are French and wonderful.

Salou Costa Dorada. Can fly to Reus or Barcelona.
Whole prom is lined with play equipment and water fountains for playing in.
Port Aventura is walkable from alot of hotels too. It's a huge theme park with rides entertainment and water parks.

You can buy a variety of passes to suit your needs.

Northern Spain is lovely, we drove via the overnight ferry. Beaches are quieter but full of Spanish people and there's all kinds of sightseeing including caves, hills and Bilbao was great. Gijon was our favourite spot (we stayed in multiple places )

Wow, thank you all. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the internet I go...!

We did places like Magic Natura / Splashworld around that age as waterparks on site and lots for kids to do without the travel.

If you prefer more SC also went here by St Tropez has 50m pool with slide with waterslide, stayed in premium mobile home with 2 bathrooms, massive TV etc www.lesnaiades.co.uk/ Walkable to beach and entertainment on site.

Doing Norway this summer and some lovely beaches but not as warm, where we are going has seals, puffins and odd whale as well as moose and reindeer plus fjords.

Valencia
Park and museums along old river bed
Beach
Old city centre